How 20 Brands Are Celebrating Game of Thrones on Social Media

What is dead may never die, and Game of Thrones is far from dead. The medieval-esque fantasy epic only seems to grow more omnipresent from season to season, and with that unending popularity comes a veritable Dothraki horde’s worth of Game of Thrones references, jokes, puns, and memes on social media.

For 10 (short) weeks every year, people are enthralled by Westeros’ brutal fight for the Iron Throne and brands are taking advantage of the ridiculously high level of interest with Game of Thrones-themed campaigns and social media posts.

References to the Stark house words, Jon Snow’s lack of knowledge (and his ambiguous mortality post-season 5), and opening credits parodies (including our own take on the iconic opener) abound!

We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites, from individual Tweets to shareable social videos and full-blown campaigns. But beware—the night is dark and full of spoilers (this post contains a few mild spoilers for those not up-to-date on the show).

On April 21, 2016—mere days before the show’s season 6 premiere—Red Bull shared a Game of Thrones parody video.

You may recall that Game of Thrones season 5 ended with the traumatic image of Jon Snow bleeding out into, well, the snow. Prior to the start of season 6, the internet was ablaze with theories and debates regarding Snow’s longevity.

Red Bull’s video opens with an image eerily similar to where we left Snow at the end of season 5. Fittingly titled “Jon Snowboard lives to shred,” the parody then sees Snow sit up, chug a Red Bull, and return to snowboarding.

It received 5.1 million views, 81,000 likes, and nearly 30,000 shares on Facebook. On Twitter, it garnered 534 Retweets and 713 likes.

The parody was a fun, playful way for Red Bull to get in on the conversation and relate it back to their brand.

The music streaming service explained in their announcement: “Are you more Daenerys Targaryen or Arya Stark? Would Jon Snow or Cersei Lannister be more likely to listen to your playlist as they fight for the Iron Throne? Spotify has the answer.”

A browse through some of the Thrones character’s playlists reveals fun details: Daenerys Targaryen’s playlist features a song called “Dragon Queen” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs along with a couple of songs by Imagine Dragons; Tormund Giantsbane’s playlist is full of metal; Littlefinger’s all about the Rat Pack crooners.

Not one to miss a trend, Game of Thrones got in on the craze surrounding its iconic opening credits by releasing the most impressive credits-themed social video yet.

The 360-degree video allows fans to immerse themselves in the opening credits sequence and tilt their device (or click and drag on desktop) to explore the map of Westeros and Essos from any angle they choose.

Posted on April 13, shortly before the start of season 6, the video was the most watched 360 video on Facebook in a 24 hour period, according to a Facebook post by Mark Zuckerberg himself. During that first day, it received 5.3 million views. That number has since climbed to 13 million.

The video was a collaboration between HBO and Elastic, which designed the show’s opening sequence.

The microsite is a beautiful visualization gives visitors the opportunity to sort the data by episode (choosing any installment since the beginning of the show). The site also displays the episode’s most mentioned characters, characters most mentioned together, and emojis used most often in combination with a character.

Each circle represents a character from the show; the size of the circles are proportionate to how many times that character was mentioned on Twitter in relation to the chosen episode. Lines linking characters indicate how often the pair was mentioned together. Characters are grouped by plot point, such as “King’s Landing” or “Night’s Watch.” Emojis most used to describe a particular character are displayed next to their circle.

Referencing Ned Stark’s quote from the series’ very first episode—”The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword”—Oreo cleverly wielded a cocktail sword to split a cookie in half, complete with their own take on Eddard’s advice.

Mentioning competitors whose names are easier to make Game of Thrones-themed puns out of was a clever way to get themselves in on the conversation.

With two more seasons of Game of Thrones planned, one thing is for sure: (more) Game of Thrones-themed brand Tweets are coming. Keep up with them and schedule your own using Hootsuite. Try it free today.